All for Money
by PerfectStoryLove
Summary: This is my third story here. DCI Tom Barnaby, DS Ben Jones and DC Gail Stephens have to deal with two murders. Also, Gail is getting kidnapped by two murderers. Barnaby and Jones have to solve this case before their colleague and girlfriend gets hurt.


Carl Howard was walking to the clubhouse. He had just finished his game of tennis with his good friend Liam Porter. It was already getting quite late, the sun was already going down. It was ten in the evening and the weather was still good. He would go for a drink in the pub with Liam later. He heard Liam calling his name.

'Carl! Could you please help me?' Liam shouted from in the canteen. They were the last two people in the clubhouse, so they had to close the house and clean everything before they left. Liam's father was the owner of the tennis court, so they could stay here as long as they wanted.

'I am coming!' Carl shouted back.

As he was walking to the canteen, he thought he heard something behind him, but when he turned around, he saw nothing. Then he suddenly heard a voice calling his name. He looked around again, but there was no one to see. Maybe he was hearing voices in his head. He entered the canteen. The canteen was entirely dark and Liam wasn't there. _'He must be in the kitchen,' _Carl thought by himself. Just as he was going to look for Liam, he felt something hitting his head. Carl fell to the ground and would never wake up again.

Several PC's were taping the clubhouse off. Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby arrived at the crime scene and looked around for his Sergeant. Detective Sergeant Ben Jones seemed to be talking with a young man, but he didn't know who it was. Barnaby walked towards the two men.

'Jones!' Barnaby called.

'Oh, hello, sir,' Ben answered. 'Doctor Bullard is with the murder victim. This is Liam Porter, he called the police since he was the one who found the body. He claims he was a good friend of Carl Howards', the one who has been murdered.'

'Would you please stay here, Liam? I will talk to you in a few minutes,' Barnaby said to Liam. Liam nodded and went to a nearby couch. Barnaby followed his Sergeant to where the body was.

'Good evening, George,' Barnaby greeted.

'Evening, Tom,' George Bullard said. 'This is a really bad one. I hope your dinner wasn't too heavy tonight.'

The body was lying on the ground with his belly open. The murderer was clearly someone violent.

'How did he die?' Barnaby asked.

'He has been dead for one hour now, his friend found him very quick. I'd say he has been murdered with a sort of stick. He certainly hasn't been cut open, but I think he has been beaten until he was bleeding. The murderer was a strong person.'

'Thank you, George. Jones, have you identified the body?'

'Yes, sir. I found his purse with his ID. His name was Carl Howard, as I've already told you. He was thirty-three years old and he worked in the local pub. His friend Liam was playing tennis with him this afternoon.'

'We should have a word with this friend of his, maybe he could give us some answers.'

Liam Porter was still sitting on the couch when the two detectives approached him.

'Mr. Porter?' Barnaby said, approaching the young man.

'You can call me Liam.'

'I am Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby and you already know my Sergeant, Detective Sergeant Jones,' Barnaby said. 'We have some questions for you.'

'Fire away then.'

'I have been told that you were playing tennis with Mr. Howard. What happened after that?'

'Well, we were the last in the clubhouse, you see. My father owns this place, so we were allowed to stay as long as we liked. We had to clean the whole canteen before we were leaving, so I was going there. I called Carl, because I needed his help with moving a few tables. Anyway, I went to the kitchen for a few minutes, just to make sure everything was closed there. I turned the kitchen lights off and went back to the canteen. There was Carl, I saw him lying on the ground. At first I thought he was just passed out or something, but when I got a closer look, I noticed he was bleeding and that his belly was open. I went straight to the phone to call the police. I still can't believe it, we were best friends since high school.'

'Did Carl have any enemies as far as you know?' Barnaby asked.

'No… Well, he did have an argument with his boss yesterday. He worked at the local pub here in Midsomer Mellow.'

'Did he tell you what this argument was about?'

'Not in very much details. It had something to do with his payments. His boss thought he was stealing money from the cash desk, but I am sure he hasn't done such a thing.'

'Did Carl have a girlfriend recently? Or any relatives here in Midsomer?'

'No, not that I know. His relatives live in Scotland. We were there at high school together. We moved together to Midsomer. As far as I can remember, his latest girlfriend was like five years ago.'

'Haven't you seen anyone here? Or have you heard anything?'

'No, I haven't.'

'Alright, Liam. Could you please give your name and your address to my Sergeant? We might need to talk to you again,' Barnaby said firmly.

Liam gave his address to Jones and went out then. The detectives decided to go down to the station to discuss what they were going to do next.

It was very quiet at the police station back in Causton. It was yet around midnight, so most of the officers were sleeping. Barnaby and his Sergeant felt like they needed some sleep as well, but they had to make a plan. The sooner the murderer was caught, the better. Jones sighed as he sat down in his chair behind his desk.

'Sir, I don't think we can do anything right now,' he said.

'Yes, Jones, we can. I am going to search for background information about Carl, while you are going to get information about that pub owner. After that, we can go home and get some sleep. So you better hurry up, then you can go home sooner.'

'Yes, sir,' Ben said annoyed.

After what felt like hundred years, they finally finished the research. They had found not much interesting about the persons. The only thing they did find out, was that Carl had a lot of money put on his bank account. Carl could never have earned that with his job in the pub in one week. It was only too late to disturb people with their questions. Tomorrow they should check the bank and interview the pub owner. For now, the best thing the detectives could do, was to call it a day.

The next morning DCI Barnaby and DS Jones were early at the station. They have decided to start as soon as possible with the case. DC Stephens was at the station too.

'Sir, could I come with you to the pub owner? I have not a lot to do here, since we have no leads at all,' Gail asked.

'Yes, of course,' Barnaby answered. 'But we need to hurry, so let's go now.'

The pub was really quiet, because it was too early for most of the people to be in a pub. The pub owner was cleaning his bar. He looked up when he saw the three officers walking into his pub.

'Yes, how can I help you?' he asked.

'I am Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby, this is Detective Sergeant Jones and this is Detective Constable Stephens,' Barnaby summed up.

'Well, well, to what do I own all this attention?' the pub owner asked surprised. 'My name is Gary Hicks.'

'We are here to ask you a few questions, Mr. Hicks,' Barnaby said. 'I am sorry to tell you that one of your employees, Carl Howard, has been murdered yesterday night.'

Gary's eyes widened in shock and his face went white.

'I… I didn't know that… excuse me,' he said, sitting down at the nearest chair.

'When was the last time you saw him?' Barnaby asked gently.

'I think… that was… yes, yesterday around two o'clock. We just had an argument, because my daughter saw him stealing money from the cask desk. I didn't want to believe it in the first place, but I have to admit that Carl seemed a little bit nervous when I confronted him with it. I also noticed that I was missing a lot of money, but I thought I could handle this myself, so I didn't report it.'

'Why didn't you believe it in the first place?' Jones asked.

'Because my daughter was having a row with him the day before. I thought she was making the story up.'

'Do you know what that row was about?'

'Not exactly, no. But I do know that it had something to do with money. Carl owed my daughter still an amount of money, because he had crashed her car. She wanted that money, because the damage to her car was pretty bad.'

'And the insurance? Couldn't they pay the damage?' Barnaby asked.

'No, Carl wasn't insured. That stupid lad. But he didn't deserve to be killed,' Gary answered.

'Could we have your daughter's name and address, sir?' Jones asked politely.

'She has got nothing to do with this!' Gary said shocked.

'We just want to talk to her, sir. Just routine. Please give us her address,' Jones said.

'Okay, her name is Kathy, she lives here in Midsomer Mellow,' Gary said. He wrote the address down on a piece of paper and gave it to Jones.

'Oh, one last question,' Barnaby said. 'How much money was stolen from your cash desk?'

'I don't know exactly. I don't always count my money. But it was a lot of money, I think it was at least two thousand pounds. This stealing is going on for one whole week now. I assume it will stop now Carl is dead,' Gary said.

'Yes, maybe,' Barnaby said. 'Thank you, Mr. Hicks. We might want to talk to you again, so please don't go anywhere in the meantime.

The three detectives walked out of the pub to the car.

'Right, you two are going to interview this Kathy, while I am going to check Carl's bank account,' Barnaby said.

'But, sir. How are we supposed to get there? We only have one car,' Jones said, but he already knew the answer.

'You two can walk. You are still young and fit. I am older than you, so that's why I am claiming the car. Besides, it's not a very long walk. Maybe fifteen minutes,' Barnaby said as he jumped into his car to drive to the bank in Causton.

'I already expected that,' Ben said sighing. 'Well, we'd better start walking then.'

Barnaby entered the bank and asked for someone who could help him at the desk. An old man with grey hair and blue eyes came walking towards Barnaby and they shook hands.

'Chief Inspector, my name is Mike Bold,' the man said.

'Pleased to meet you, Mr. Bold. I was wondering if you could help me with something. I am investigating a murder and I need to check in someone's bank account,' Barnaby said.

'Well, then you are at the right place, sir,' Bold said. 'Please follow me to my office.'

Barnaby followed the man and they entered a small room with just a desk, a closet and three chairs in it. Barnaby sat down at one of the chairs and Mr. Bold sat down across from him, behind his desk.

'How can I help you, Chief Inspector?' Mike Bold asked.

'I'd like to check on Carl Howard's bank account, please.'

'Oh dear, what has happened to that young man?'

'Do you know him?'

'Of course I know him. His bank account is remarkable indeed. I am not surprised that you want to check on it. He comes here often with a lot of cash money. We have never asked him how where he did get that money from of course. That is none of our business. He was always a nice man,' Bold answered.

Barnaby remained silent and waited for the man while he was typing on his computer.

'Here it is!' Bold said enthusiastically. He showed the computer screen to the DCI.

'Well, well… That is more than two thousand pounds in one week… That is the exact amount of money that the pub owner has mentioned,' Barnaby said.

Barnaby decided to head back to the station and wait there to tell Jones and Stephens about this news. It seemed that Carl was stealing money from the cash desk indeed. He hoped that Jones and Stephens were getting some information from Kathy Hicks, because she might have been the reason why Carl was stealing the money from the pub. Her car was damaged after all.

Kathy Hicks, a young woman of thirty-four with blond hair and dark eyes, was not very co-operative. She kept flirting with Ben, which annoyed Gail no end. So far, she only had only admitted that she knew Carl, but she refused to answer any of the other questions. Gail was getting very annoyed by Kathy's behavior.

'Are you going to answer my question or not, Kathy?' Gail asked.

Kathy gave Gail a glance. 'It is Miss Hicks to you, if you don't mind.'

'I don't mind calling you that, but then you should answer our questions,' Gail said, giving Kathy a glance back.

'Please, Miss Hicks. Just answer our questions,' Ben said a little bit annoyed.

'You can call me Kathy, handsome,' Kathy said, giving the Sergeant a sweet smile.

Ben blushed, but when he noticed the angry look on Gail's face, he quickly went serious again.

'And you can call me Mr. Jones, Miss Hicks,' Ben said firmly. Kathy just giggled and kept flirting. Gail couldn't take it anymore.

'If you are not going to answer our questions right now, we will take you down to the station under arrest!' Gail snapped. Her eyes were shooting daggers.

'Oh, I really don't mind if this Sergeant handcuffs me and takes me down to the station,' Kathy said giggling.

Ben took a step back and decided to let Gail handle this.

'You will stop flirting with him right now!'

'Or else? Oh… I understand… He is your boyfriend of course…' Kathy sneered. 'Well I don't think that he would like it when you are hitting me.'

'Oh no? Try me, Kathy,' Gail said. She looked at Ben, but he was just looking out of the window. He surely wouldn't mind if Gail was going to hit Kathy. 'Right, did Carl Howard damage your car?'

'Relax, Constable,' Kathy snapped.

'Okay, I am done with you. You are coming with me to the station,' Gail said angrily. She grabbed the young woman by her arm and took her outside. She realized she didn't have a car, so she called the local police station.

'Hello? This is DC Stephens, Causton CID,' she said through the phone. 'Could you send me a police car ASAP, please?'

Gail gave the PC on the phone the address and waited for the car. Ben came walking towards Gail and gave her a small smile. When the car came, Gail and Kathy took a backseat and Jones took the passenger seat. The ride to the station was very silent.

Barnaby was pleased to see that Jones and Stephens had taken Kathy Hicks with them. He was very curious to what Kathy had to say. She might have been the reason why Carl was stealing her father's money from the pub. In the time that Barnaby was waiting for his colleagues, he was thinking that Kathy might even have blackmailed Carl, so he would give her the money. Now that she was taken in for questioning under arrest, he could ask her some questions himself.

'Jones,' he said. 'What happened? Did you find anything out?'

'No, sir,' Ben answered. 'We haven't. She was not very co-operative.'

'She kept flirting with Jones, sir,' Gail added.

'Oh, did she?' Barnaby said. He found it rather amusing. 'Well, maybe I should have a word with her then. If that doesn't work, then I should release Jones on her. He and his charms might help getting her to talk.'

'Sir, please,' Ben said. 'I don't want to do that…'

'Then I hope for you that she is going to talk.'

The three detectives entered the interview room where Kathy Hicks was already sitting.

'I wish to make a complaint,' Kathy said. 'That Constable was very offensive.'

'I think that DC Stephens had a very good reason to be offensive, but you can certainly try to file a complaint,' Barnaby said firmly.

'Then that's what I am going to do. And I want a lawyer.'

'You are first going to answer my question, Miss Hicks,' Barnaby said. 'Maybe you can get a lawyer after that, if that would be necessary. I don't think you are going to need one, because you are not a suspect in this case. Not yet. So I suggest you are going to cooperate.'

'You can try to ask me something, but I won't answer.'

'I think you are going to answer.'

'Maybe, but not to you. I will talk to your Sergeant.'

'Fine,' Barnaby said, getting to his feet to make place for Jones. 'Go on, Jones.'

'Sir?' Jones said, not sure if he wanted to do this. This girl made him nervous, certainly with Gail standing next to him. It felt a little bit like betrayal, although he wasn't doing anything wrong. Barnaby nodded at him and sat behind him. Ben gave Gail a look and she nodded as well.

'Alright then…' Ben began. 'Did Carl owe you some money, Kathy?'

Kathy gave him a smile. 'Yes, he did. I was driving home two weeks ago and suddenly another car came rushing around the corner. He hit me pretty hard and my car was damaged. I told him that I wanted the money for my car, since it was his fault.'

'Of course. Did you have a row with Carl about this?'

'No, I didn't. I just told him that I wanted that money.'

'Why did you tell your father that Carl was stealing money from him?'

'Because I saw him stealing it with my own eyes! He was probably gathering money for me, but he shouldn't have stolen it from my dad,' Kathy sais angrily.

'Do you know anyone who might have wanted to kill Carl?' Ben asked.

'No. If you don't mind, I have other business to do. You can't hold me here, but if you want to keep me, I won't resist,' Kathy said with a wink. She was getting to her feet and no one stopped her. There was no reason to keep her here. Before she walked through the door, she turned to Ben and said:

'I hope to see you again, handsome!'

As soon as she left the room, Barnaby started to laugh. He stopped when he saw his Sergeant's look.

'It's not funny, sir,' he said. 'She makes me feel very uncomfortable and awkward.'

'I know, Jones, sorry,' Barnaby said. 'Well, we haven't gone very far with her, did we?'

'No, sir. But I don't really trust that woman. She is definitely hiding something,' Gail said.

'I think you are just angry with her because of the attention she gave to Jones,' Barnaby said.

'No, sir. Well, maybe a bit, but I still don't trust her,' Gail said.

'Me neither, sir,' Ben added, helping Gail.

'Okay then, maybe we should consider her as a suspect. We don't have any leads, though,' Barnaby said. Just then, a PC came walking into the interview room.

'Sir,' he said. 'There has been another murder in Midsomer Mellow.'

'Who is the victim?'

'Liam Porter, sir.'

At the crime scene, the detectives were greeted by George Bullard.

'Hello, Tom,' George said. 'The same story, this man is also beaten to death with a stick.'

The body of Liam didn't look good. He was covered in blood. There was a purse lying next to him. Barnaby picked it up and studied it.

'Everything seems to be in it, his ID, his credit card… But where is his cash money? It seems like Mr. Porter has been robbed before he was killed,' Barnaby said.

'It could not have been Kathy, sir. She was at the station with us,' Ben said.

'Yes, I know that, Jones,' Barnaby said. 'Who found the body?' he asked a nearby PC.

'The young man over there, sir,' the PC answered, pointing at a young man sitting on a bench.

Barnaby and Jones walked over to the man while Stephens was staying with the body, talking with one of the PC's.

'I am Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby and this is Detective Sergeant Jones,' Barnaby said. Both he and Jones showed their ID's. 'Could we ask you some questions, sir?'

'Yes, yes, of course,' the man said. 'My name is Frank Hofer by the way.'

'I understand you found the body?'

Frank just nodded.

'Did you know the man who is murdered?' Barnaby asked softly.

'No, sir. I don't know him personally. I have seen him a couple of times in the village, but I have never spoken to him. There is something I do know, sir,' Frank said. He looked around and seemed rather nervous. He swallowed and then continued: 'I think I saw someone running away when I found the body.'

Barnaby waited for the man to continue, but he remained silent. 'Mr. Hofer?' Barnaby asked carefully. 'Did you recognize the person who was running away?'

Frank nodded carefully, as though his head was leaving his neck if he would nod more enthusiastically.

'Would you please tell us who it was?'

'It was the son of that pub owner here in Midsomer Mellow, I don't know his name, but I am sure it was him. I have seen him here before in the village,' Frank said nervously.

'Thank you, Mr. Hofer. You have been most helpful. A PC will write your address down, just in case, and then you can go,' Barnaby said.

'Thank you, Mr. Barnaby,' the young man said.

Barnaby turned to his Sergeant.

'It seems that Mr. Hicks has also a son. I want to talk to him again and also to Kathy. I have the feeling that Kathy knows more about this than she is willing to admit.'

Gary Hicks was surprised when he saw the police officers walking into his pub for the second time.

'I have told you everything I know, just leave me alone will you?' Gary said annoyed. He clearly didn't want to talk with the detectives again.

'We just want to clear a few things up, sir. Do you have a son?' Barnaby asked.

'No, I don't.'

'Then how is it possible that your son has been seen at the crime scene? The witness we have spoken to was rather certain that it was your son.'

'I don't have a son. He is my wife's son. My wife has died a few years ago and I was the only one left here. I had to take care of both children, but I never liked that guy.'

'What is his name?'

'Jake Cunning. I believe that he is still in touch with my daughter, they often spend time together. But I haven't seen Jake for ages. He doesn't want to see me either, so I don't see why you are asking me these questions. If you want to know anything else, I suggest you ask my daughter. She is the one who is closest to Jake.'

'We will, thank you, Mr. Hicks,' Barnaby said as he left the pub. He turned to his colleagues.

'Stephens, I want you to have another word with Kathy Hicks. I don't think that Jones wants to see her right now. Try to get some information out of her about Jake Cunning. Jones, I want you to come with me to the station, so we can gather some background information about that Jake.' Barnaby said.

'Yes, sir,' both Gail and Ben said.

DCI Barnaby and DS Jones had been looking for information on their computers for the last couple of hours. There was nothing special to find. The only thing was that Jake was thirty-five years old and that he went to a high school in Causton. They could also find a photo of Jake. He looked a lot like his half-sister, only he had blue eyes and his sister had dark eyes.

'Sir, this is a waste of time. By the way, were is Gail?' Ben said.

Barnaby looked up from his computer.

'I agree, this is a waste of time. I haven't seen Gail yet. She should be here by now. I hope that she has got a few answers for us.'

'Sir!' a PC shouted as he came walking into the office. 'Sir, I've got something very important for you to see.'

The PC showed a letter to the DCI. Barnaby opened it and read:

_You know were Liam was hiding that money and I want it back. If you are trying to play any games with me, your DC will not see another day. I want to see DS Jones with the two thousand pounds at nine o'clock this evening at the old shed in Badger's Drift. Tell him to come alone, or else…_

Barnaby was silent for a few minutes. He was only staring at something invisible.

'Who brought this letter?' he asked the PC.

'I don't know, sir. It was just lying there when I entered the station. You name was written on it, so I decided to show it to you,' the PC said.

'Thank you, Constable,' Barnaby said and the PC left the office.

Jones was just sitting there, not knowing what was going on.

'Sir?' he said.

Barnaby gave him the letter. While Jones was reading it, the look on his face became more and more angry. Barnaby understood that Jones was feeling angry, Stephens was his girlfriend after all.

'We need to find her!' Ben shouted almost panicked. He got to his feet.

'Easy, Jones,' Barnaby said. 'First of all, we don't know who this letter wrote and second, we don't know what money they want.'

'Of course we know who this letter wrote. It was Kathy of course. Gail was going to talk with Kathy, so she must have kidnapped her then. I gather that her half-brother Jake was also there. They have kidnapped Gail together!'

'Jones… Even though we know who it was, we still don't know what money they want. We haven't found any money on Liam. Besides, I don't want to send you there alone, knowing that there is someone who might want to hurt you.'

'Kathy? She doesn't want to hurt me. What could she possibly do to me? I will be careful. My only concern is Gail, sir. I shall take some fake money with me and I could take some PC's with me. They can follow me on a safe distance, so that Kathy and Jake don't know they are there. As soon as they have released Gail, I can call the PC's and arrest the two of them.'

'This is too dangerous, Jones,' Barnaby said concerned.

Ben shot his boss an angry look.

'Sir! This is not about me! We need to safe Gail! I don't care if you disagree, I am going to look for Gail no matter what you say,' Ben said determined.

Barnaby sighed. His Sergeant could be very difficult sometimes. Barnaby knew it would not make any sense to argue with Jones at the moment. Jones was determined to safe Stephens, no matter what.

'Okay then, but promise me you will be careful. I don't want to have you kidnapped too,' he said.

'Of course I will be careful, sir,' Ben answered, relieved that his boss had agreed.

Gail was tied to a chair in a dark shed. She didn't know where she was. All she could remember was that she had gone to Kathy's house and that there was also another guy. She was knocked unconscious by that guy and now she was here. She saw two persons walking through the shed. One of them was Kathy, but she didn't recognize the other person.

'Ah, you are awake,' the man said.

'Who are you? Why have you taken me here?' Gail demanded.

'I am Jake, I am sure you have heard about me. You will soon find out why we brought you here,' Jake answered.

'Do you really think you can just hold me here? I am a police officer,' Gail said.

'So what? They already know you are here,' Kathy said.

'Why?'

'Well, they have some money that belongs to Jake. I will make sure they are going to bring it to me. That's why we need you. I want that Sergeant to come here and you are the perfect bait. As soon as he hears that you are here, he will come for you. And that is exactly my intension. By the way, he is coming alone, because otherwise we will kill you. Jake and I are going to share our catch, Jake gets the money, I get the Sergeant.'

'Ben is not stupid. He will come here with PC's to arrest you,' Gail sneered.

'Shut up you stupid girl. If he comes with PC's or doesn't give me what I want, then I will make sure you won't live to see another day,' Kathy snapped.

'We'll see.'

'I don't like your cheekiness at all, Detective Constable. One more word and you will regret it,' Jake said.

'If you hurt me, then you are the one who is going to regret it. I don't think that Ben would be very happy with you when he sees that you've hurt me,' Gail said bravely.

Jake didn't like that remark. He walked towards Gail and hit her with a stick. Gail gasped for air and decided it would be better to shut her mouth until the police would come to rescue her.

Ben Jones was approaching the shed. He knew exactly where he had to be. Under his arm, he held a little case filled with fake money. He had told some PC's to stay with the car. If he didn't return within an hour, then they had to come to the shed. Ben slowly walked to the shed and looked through the window. He saw Gail, tied to a chair. He also saw Kathy and a man who was presumably Jake. Ben walked into the shed and Kathy came to him.

'Ah, DS Jones! I am very happy to see you. You have the money?' she asked.

'Yes, I have. Release Gail first,' Ben said.

'You are not in the position to give us orders, Sergeant. Do you mind me calling you Ben? That would make it a whole lot easier.'

'Yes, I do mind. You are not getting the money before you released Gail,' Ben said.

'You should not argue with us, Ben,' Kathy said. 'I will show you what happens when you are not cooperative enough. Jake?'

Jake picked up the stick and hit Gail hard on the head. Her nose was bleeding and possibly broken.

'If you do that again, I swear…' Ben started while he was taking a step closer to Jake.

'What, Sergeant? I do it again if you are coming any closer. Just give us the money and do what Kathy says,' Jake said.

Ben realized he had no choice. Jake was too far away. If he was making a move, then Gail would be beaten again. He gave Kathy the case, hoping that she would not look inside.

'Thank you, Ben. Now, I am not done with you yet,' Kathy said as she put the case down on the floor without looking inside.

'Why? What do you want from me? You have your money, so now you will release her,' Ben said.

'No, no, that money is for Jake.'

'But… your car was damaged. Isn't that the reason why you have killed Carl?'

'I will not tell you anything. Liam owed Jake some money, Carl was the one who owed me. Now, I won't harm your girlfriend if you do exactly what I want,' Kathy said with a sweet smile.

'What do you want from me? You're not getting away with this,' Ben said with clenched teeth.

'I would be a little bit more friendly if I were you, or Gail will feel the worst pain possible,' Kathy sneered.

Ben remained silent. He just waited for Kathy to continue talking. If he was going to say anything, then he would put Gail in danger. He was just standing there while Kathy came walking towards him.

'I just want to have some fun with you and maybe I will let your girl go,' she said.

Suddenly Kathy kissed the Sergeant on the mouth without a warning. She loosened his tie and pushed him on a bench which was standing in the shed. She started to undo the buttons of his shirt, still kissing him. Ben was doing nothing, fearing for Gail's safety. When he felt her hands going to a more intimate place, he softly pushed her off him and got to his feet. She tried to grab him again, but Ben was holding her on a safe distance.

'Don't you think we need some more privacy? Please send them away,' he tried.

'They are not looking, don't worry, dear,' Kathy giggled.

'I would prefer it. When they are gone, you can have me, I promise,' he said as soft as he could.

'Okay, then. Jake? Would you please go outside with the DC?' Kathy asked, turning to her brother.

Jake picked up the chair where Gail was still sitting on and Ben took his chance. He ran towards the man and hit him to the ground. He twisted Jake's wrists until he screamed and handcuffed him. Then he went after Kathy and handcuffed her as well. When he had the two of them to the ground, he called the PC's with his phone. When the PC's were in the shed to take both Kathy and Jake away, Ben started to untie Gail.

'Are you alright?' he asked concerned.

'Yes, I am. I am glad you are here,' Gail answered with a scared look on her face.

'You are not scared of me, are you?' Ben asked with a small smile.

'Of course not, I feel safe with you, I am glad you are here with me,' she answered.

'Are you hurt?' Ben asked.

'Just a few bruises, but I am alright. It's not very bad.'

Ben was still worried about her. He kissed her on her forehead.

'Please tell me if you are not alright, okay? I love you, Gail,' he said.

'I love you too, Ben.'

Gail gave Ben a kiss on the lips. Then Ben got to his feet and offered Gail his hand. She took his hand and he helped her walking out of the shed. When they were finally outside, they walked to the car and drove to the station for an interview with Kathy and Jake.

The DCI was waiting for his Sergeant to come back. He was yet gone for over two hours and Barnaby was getting very nervous. He didn't like the idea that something had happened to Jones or Stephens. He was pacing through his office. The only thing he could do was waiting for them to return. Just then, a PC came to his office.

'Sir, DS Jones and DC Stephens are on their way. We have arrested Miss Hicks and Mr. Cunning.'

'That's great news!' the Chief Inspector said relieved. 'Please send them all to an interview room when they are here, I am coming too.'

'Yes, sir,' the PC said.

The Chief Inspector was sitting an interview room with Jones, Stephens and Kathy. He wanted to interview both suspects in separate rooms. Surprisingly, Kathy was very cooperative for once. She was prepared to admit that she had murdered Carl.

'So you were blackmailing Carl to get some money for your car?' Barnaby asked.

'Yes, that's true. But he didn't want to give me the money, he said that he would go to the police with this. I didn't want to take that risk, so I had to kill him. I already got a lot of money from him, enough to repair the damage to my car. But I wanted more money from him and he wouldn't give it to me.'

'So you made him stealing money from your dad's pub?'

'I tried to make him do that in the first place, but he didn't have the guts for it. So I decided to steal the money myself. I needed it, and so did my brother. I told my father that Carl had stolen the money, so that no one would ever blame me.'

'And that's when you started blackmailing Liam?'

'No. I've got nothing to do with Liam's death. I only helped my brother, because he has helped me. Liam owed Jake a great deal of money.'

'Why did Liam owe your brother?' Barnaby asked.

'I think that you have to ask him that. I don't know anything about his business. He told me nothing about it. The only thing I know is that it concerned a lot of money. He had heard that you were investigating Liam's death, so he assumed that you would know where the money was. Liam was hiding it somewhere and Jake was getting fed up with it. He decided to deal with Liam.'

'Murder is a serious crime, do you know that? And so is blackmailing. And apart from that, you will be charged for assaulting two police officers too,' Barnaby said firmly.

'I know, I know,' Kathy said. 'But it's no use to deny everything now, is it?'

Barnaby asked the PC who was guarding the interview room to take Kathy to the cells and he asked to bring Jake Cunning in. Jake shot a glare to the detectives as he walked into the room. The Chief Inspector told him to sit down in the chair across from him and started the interview.

'Mr. Cunning. We have a few questions for you. My first question is: did you kill Liam Porter?' Barnaby asked.

Jake remained silent. He was just staring at the wall, not wanting to say anything.

'Jake, it won't help you if you don't talk. We already know that you have help your half-sister with blackmailing Carl and we also know that you have killed Liam. All we want is a confirmation and we would like to hear the reason why you wanted money from Liam. I assume that the reason why you killed Liam, was that he didn't pay you the money. You'd better be honest with us,' Barnaby said.

'Go to hell,' Jake sneered.

Suddenly, Jones got to his feet. He was obvious angry with Jake for hitting Gail. Now that Jake was being rude to his boss, his hands became fists.

'Don't you dare to say that again,' Ben said with clenched teeth.

'Jones, please, sit down,' Barnaby said softly, lying his hand on Jones's shoulder. 'Jake, I don't want to hear such insults again. You will talk to me now.'

Barnaby sounded strict, but Jake only gave the DCI a dirty look.

'Alright, if you won't talk to me, then maybe I should let my Sergeant take the lead of this interview. Maybe you are going to talk when you are alone with him. I am sure he can deal with you,' Barnaby said, his eyes flashing with annoyance.

Jake didn't seem to be very impressed and just kept staring at the wall.

'Alright, Stephens, do you mind coming with me for a few minutes? We should let Jones take over this interview. Maybe he will talk then,' the Chief Inspector said, turning to Gail.

'Yes, sir,' Gail said, following her boss outside.

Ben was getting to his feet as well, holding in his anger. He looked at the man in front of him and started pacing through the room. He stopped behind Jake and asked him the same questions again.

'Why did Liam owe you money, Jake,' he asked as soft as possible.

'I don't have to say anything to you,' Jake said cheekily.

'That was not an answer to my question. One more chance. Why did Liam owe you money?' Ben asked again, now more forceful.

Jake didn't answer. Ben lost his patience, he was determined to get an answer from this man. He hurt Gail and he was not going to let Jake getting away with that.

'Listen, Jake. You are only making it worse for yourself if you don't talk to us. If you don't answer my question right now, I might get a little bit less pleasant. This is the last time I am asking you friendly, why did he owe you money?' Ben said, his voice now getting dangerously soft.

'I have told you, I will not say anything.'

Ben couldn't take it anymore. This man was really getting under his skin. Ben kicked the table in frustration and then grabbed Jake's Jacket and went face to face with him.

'You are making me very angry, Jake. I will get your answers. Since this doesn't work the friendly way, I am afraid I will have to deal with you the hard way,' after saying that, Ben punched Jake in the stomach. Jake gasped for air and tried to hit the Sergeant back. That was a wrong thing to do. The DS pulled Jake out of the chair and forced him against the wall.

'You are going to talk right now!' he shouted. 'Talk to me, or I will personally make your life a living hell!'

Ben punched Jake again and again, until Jake was crying out in pain. Finally Jake fell to the floor with fear in his eyes. He was protecting his face while he was trying to get away from Jones's fist.

'Stop it, please!' he begged and Ben stopped directly.

'I will stop, if you give me answers,' he said sharply.

'Okay, okay, please just stop,' Jake said. 'Alright, I am dealing in drugs. Liam had found out that I was doing that and he threatened to go to the police. He took a lot of drugs with me as evidence, but before he could go to the police, he had lost the drugs. They were fallen out of his bag, he said. I was ferocious and I said he had to pay me back all the money, which he refused. I knew he had the money, because he was scared of me. When I went to Liam to take his money, he had no money with him. So I went angry and I killed him. The money was nowhere to be found, so I assumed that the police was keeping it as evidence or something. That's why my sister and I set out a plan to kidnap that DC, we knew that you would come to rescue her, because you care for her. My sister was helping me, because she saw it as an opportunity to get closer to you.'

'What you did to Gail...' Ben said, stepping closer to Jake.

'No, please don't hurt me again! I am sorry, I really am! Please…' Jake said.

'Well, at least you admitted that you have killed Liam,' Ben said without feeling sorry for the man. He gave Jake a final kick and then called a PC who was guarding the room.

'Send him to a cell, please,' he said to the PC.

'Yes, sir,' the PC said, picking Jake up from the ground to take him to the cells. Ben sat down on the chair behind the table with his head in his hands. Just then the DCI came walking into the interview room.

'Jones,' he said. 'I saw Jake Cunning being led to the cells. I assume that that means that you have got a confession out of him?'

Ben just nodded.

'Well done! I knew I could handle this one over to you. Have you been very hard on him? He was walking as though he had been beaten up pretty badly,' Barnaby said.

'I had to, sir. He was not going to talk otherwise. Sometimes you just need to be a little bit more forceful to get a suspect talking.'

'You are right, Jones. Well, I am glad that this case is solved.'

'Me too, sir,' Jones sighed.

'What is it? You look like you are shocked or something,' Barnaby said concerned.

'It's nothing, sir, really. How is Gail?' Ben asked.

'Ah, that is what is bothering you, isn't it? She is fine, maybe you should have a talk with her. I have sent her home, but you are allowed to pay her a visit. There is not much for you to do at the moment. You can write your report first thing tomorrow,' Barnaby said.

'Thank you, sir,' Ben said relieved. 'I see you tomorrow then!'

'Yes, I see you tomorrow.'

Barnaby watched as Jones was leaving the room. That lad was very happy to visit his girlfriend. The Chief Inspector knew how important that was to Jones. The young man cared a great deal for Gail. He was happy for his colleagues, they really deserved each other. With a smile, Barnaby walked back to his office. He decided that he could better call it a day as well. The case was solved, so now he could finally get home and jump into his bed.

Ben drove through Causton in the direction of Gail's house. He had only stopped to buy some flowers in the flower shop. He parked his car next to Gail's house and jumped out of his car. He really wanted to see her after what happened. He rang the door and almost directly, the door opened. Gail was standing there with a smile on her face.

'Come in!' she said happily.

Ben followed her to the living room.

'I brought you something, Gail,' he said and he showed her an enormous bunch of flowers.

'That's so sweet! Thank you so much,' Gail said.

'How are you feeling?' Ben asked.

'I am fine. The shock is worse than the pain. In fact, I don't feel any pain at all anymore,' Gail answered.

'I am glad to hear that.'

'So, did you get the answers out of Jake?'

'Yes, I did. He was dealing in drugs and Liam had taken some drugs with him. Liam lost the drugs out of his sight and that's why Jake wanted money for it. According to Jake, Liam did have the money, but when he was meeting Jake, he wouldn't give it to him. Jake grew angry and killed Liam only to find out that Liam really didn't have the money. So Jake thought that the police had found the money and he decided to kidnap you to make me giving him the money.'

Gail was silent. She looked at Ben as though he had said something very odd.

'What is it, Gail? Is something still bothering you?' Ben asked concerned.

'No, not really. It's just all what happened… It's really getting to me, you know,' Gail said softly.

Ben saw that she was close to tears and held her in his arms. Gail started to cry when she felt Ben's arms around her. Tears were running down her cheeks.

'I am with you, Gail. No one is going to hurt you, it is all going to be alright,' Ben whispered in her ear.

Gail was glad that she was having Ben to hold her now. His arms around her were strong, safe and protective. She gave Ben a smile and a soft kiss.

'You know what is bothering me in fact?' she said with a smile.

'Tell me,' Ben said, returning her smile.

'I was feeling a little bit jealous, seeing you with Kathy. She is a pretty girl, I thought that you were forgetting about me to be with her.'

'How can you even think that? I would never, ever, let you go for someone like her. For no one. You are the only one I love, please don't ever forget that. There was no reason to be jealous,' Ben said.

'Well, I guess you will have to prove that,' Gail said teasingly.

'Oh, you are a cheeky one,' Ben said, giving Gail a kiss on the forehead.

Gail giggled and got to her feet. Ben got to his feet as well and they kissed each other again, now more passionate. As Gail was deepening the kiss, Ben pulled back and lifted Gail up. He carried her over the threshold of her bedroom and closed the door with his foot.


End file.
